What is Mbappe's 'secret pact' with PSG president Al-Khelaifi?

Tom Weber

• Updated: 5 Jan 2024 11:03 GMT
• 3 min read

Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe recently spoke of an agreement between himself and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, but what exactly is this not-so-secret 'secret pact' between the two?

The Frenchman is out of contract in the summer and can officially negotiate with interested clubs now that the January transfer window is open. Real Madrid and Liverpool are keen on snapping up the megastar, but so far little in the way of concrete negotiations has materialised.

After PSG beat Toulouse in the French Super Cup, Mbappe broke his silence on his future for the first time since the summer. He told the media: "I haven’t made my decision, I didn't make a choice."

"With the agreement that I made with the president this summer, whatever my decision, we will seek to protect all parties and preserve the serenity of the club for the upcoming matches, which remains the most important thing.”

What is Mbappe's agreement with Al-Khelaifi?

The agreement in question is that Mbappe has agreed to waive his hefty loyalty bonus should he leave the club for free in the summer. This was first revealed by Le Parisien and has now been corroborated by respected journalists such as Fabrizio Romano and Ben Jacobs.

As part of the Frenchman's contract, which he signed in 2022, he is entitled to a whopping annual loyalty bonus that reportedly amounts to between €70 million and €100m.

In the summer, after leaking to the media that he wouldn't trigger his one-year extension, Mbappe was exiled from the PSG squad. However, after the first game of the season, a productive meeting was held between the 25-year-old's camp and Al-Khelaifi after which the player was reinstated.

At this meeting, it was agreed that Mbappe would forego his bonus for the campaign in the event of his free-transfer departure. In other words, it means that even if the Parisians don't receive a fee for their star man, they won't be left empty-handed because they will get to keep a fortune that they would have otherwise had to pay to the player.

This is also why PSG are quite calm about the situation. They obviously want Mbappe to extend his contract, but if he doesn't, they will still pocket (or recoup) a significant amount of money despite him leaving for free.